After spending a month in Miami, we're back in D.C. for another round. Up until now, our trips to Danny's training sites have been rather lonesome for our family. We were the only family who drove up for orientation, and the only family present at graduation of his first cycle. But this time around there are a few other wives and kids who have joined their spouses. We've gotten quite close to one family in particular, eating breakfast together everyday and going off on adventures. The mom is tall and graceful and when we're together, I feel that we must look rather like Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie "Twins." Our kids have fun together (Noemie baked cupcakes with them last Thursday) and I, for one, am happy to have another grown-up to talk to.
Our family of six is staying in a one-bedroom hotel suite. The original plan was to stay in a four-bedroom, two-story house, a vacation rental-by-owner. We paid the deposit and waltzed in the front door with high hopes. But those hopes crashed pretty quickly. For one, the house was a museum of 18th century furnishings, canvas paintings, and porcelain vases. The sofa... Decorative or functional? I never could tell. How was this home advertised as "great for families with young children"? The owner also kept the pantry fully packed. We couldn't put our own food anywhere. Then there was a basement tenant that we weren't told about. The thin hardwood floors amplified every footstep, even more so the thumps of Tovi's running, Dominic's taking the stairs two at a time, the clatter of Giannina trailing a large cheese-grater behind her, Noemie wailing because Giannina found (and ingested) her secret stash of chewing gum. We stayed with Danny at his hotel for the first few days while we unpacked and figured out the car situation, going only to the house in four hour stretches at lunch time. Even so, the owner called to reproof us for the tenant's noise complaint! When Tovi pulled down a bedroom curtain with its wall brackets, that was the last straw. After much deliberation and logistics and repacking, without even having spent a night at the house, we moved into Danny's hotel room.
As during our previous stay in D.C, Danny goes off to work and I juggle school, social networking, and behavioral management while trying, quite desperately, to look like I'm in control. The weather here is much colder than I have ever experienced, which has led to some fun new experiences, such as watching sparks in the dark when Gigi rolls around in her static-charged fleece pajamas. Shocking, yes. Danny prepared for our arrival by doing some extensive winter-wear shopping, receiving us each with a large shopping bag stuffed with thermal goodies, like gloves, long underwear, and hiking boots. (Wool socks- These might be my favorite. I won't take them off but to bathe and then they go right back on.) On our second day here, it snowed. The kids played in the hotel courtyard for three hours. They crunched footprints in the snow, threw snowballs, mixed it with water, made towers using plastic cups, slid around on the rubber ball-court, caught snowflakes on their tongues, Gigi walked around eating chunks of it... and any other idea that occured to them. The temperature hovered in the 20s today. I was wearing an undershirt, a sweater, an insulated jacket, a windbreaker, a scarf, two pairs of pants, the ubiquitous wool socks... and I was still freezing. The kids don't seem to understand. Noemie insisted on wearing crocs yesterday. Then she cried when her feet were cold and she slipped on ice. There have been too many battles these days. I'd rather leave that one to self-correction. Today she chose her boots.
The highlight so far has been building a snowman. The kids named him Olaf. Danny said he looked like Linus.
We don't know much about what's coming up but we're thankful that we're all in the same place. No matter how hard things get, we'd rather be together than apart.
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